Saturday, July 2, 2016

Tempering Chocolate- Let's Talk

Let's talk about tempering chocolate.

Do you have questions or need help?
Or do you have some ideas, insights or experience in tempering chocolate?
Or both?...a category I find myself in!

Please join in this discussion. Thank you!

I have a few years experience in tempering chocolate and have read a few books, visited websites and checked out articles that discuss everything from correct temperature for tempering, types of chocolate to detailed descriptions of the crystalline structure of chocolate to exact procedures to temper chocolate.
Everyone has a unique perspective and that can be refreshing and thought provoking . This has led me to think about and try different methods.
I have tried a longer version of tempering chocolate-that I describe in my blog "English Toffee" and a shorter version which entails heating 1/3 of the chocolate up to 112F during melting using a double boiler/baine marie, then seeding the melted chocolate with the other 2/3rd's of the un-melted chocolate to achieve a temperature of:
for dark chocolate: 88F to 91F
for milk chocolate: 85F to 88F

This method works, but it does involve multiple times of melting and tempering for medium to larger batches of candy.
The candy temperature itself can decrease the window of time the chocolate is in temper, the amount of time needed for the chocolate to set up on the candy and increases the likelihood of some bloom/out of temper chocolate on candy- if not constantly monitoring the temperature of the chocolate.
The amount of tempered chocolate can affect the period of time it will be in temper.
There is a tool that could be extremely useful- it is a thermometer spatula- I have not used one, yet, but I would like to. I plan on buying one soon.

Please share with me and others any questions, ideas, experiences and ideas about tempering chocolate.

Thank you!

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